Over the past nine months, I’ve shared a couple of EPs from Texas, USA-based duo MISSIO. In September, it was I Am High, then December saw I Am Awesome. Together, with three other EPs, they make the five-disc collection I Am Cinco.
By Graeme Smith
At 26 tracks, I Am Cinco is a bit of a monster, but MISSIO’s varied approach and mix of genres means things never get dull as we work through its five movements. Each comes with its own mood from the downbeat I Am Sad (Disc 1) to the unbridled rage of I Am Angry (Disc 4), right through the boundary pushing madness of I Am Crazy.
Ambitiously, the pair wanted to create something that captures the full experience of being human, and I feel that they’ve achieved that. Listening to the full collection feels like taking a good hard look in the mirror, and ultimately having mixed feelings about what you see.
I Am Cinco proves to be quite a journey. When I Am Sad and I Can’t Speak opens things lo-fi and stripped-back, you expect to be in for a quiet one, but, as things progress, the album proves to be anything but that. Things start to fire up with RingTing and from there we get the laidback liveliness of Good Vibrations, the hip-hop of Thang Thang and Big Stacks, the cinematic pop of Not My Fault and Heart Made of Dynamite, the edgy rock of Run Away and Rage, and the percussive urgency of Fall Into A Black Hole.
I’m not sure I’ve heard a collection that is more diverse than I Am Cinco. Each disc has a distinct vibe from each other, yet somehow all hang together. I think it’s MISSIO’s distinct character that does it. Even though each track takes in a new genre, it’s unmistakably one of theirs. It’s a very special thing and their ambitious new album is a triumph.
MISSIO will be taking the album on the road in June, including UK dates at Download Festival on 16 June and in London’s Underworld on 19 June. Tickets are available here.
I Am Cinco is out now and you can check it out below.